Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Continuing with the breakdown ala dissertation style at which I’m going to examine each Oscar category, I’ve decided to be consistent and do another one today. (read my thoughts on the Animated Film category.)

Having not seen Dreamgirls (which comes out this Friday), which is nodded in 8 times in 6 of the sodding categories, it’s a bit difficult to dance with many of the categories that I want to. Still, there’s good news – my dad rented Click last night, and I managed to see Apocalypto at the weekend due to the marvels of BitTorrent. So I can delight you with the wonders of…

How I did: 67% - I correctly predicted Apocalypto and Pan’s Labyrinth, but I thought that history would repeat itself and Pirates of the Caribbean II would get nominated here – one of the few categories in which the film actually did well. Still, it’s amusing for people to be able to now say, “Oscar nominated film – Click!”

Now. The films.

I don’t really feel too strongly about make-up, to be honest, as a category. I mean, I think it’s really important that the makeup artists get recognised. But it’s not a category I follow all that deeply. I can’t even remember who won Best Make Up last year. *checks on IMDb.* Oh yeah: Narnia. OK, I did remember that. Honest. But I’m with BAFTA on this – I would much rather they had the category as Best Hair and Make Up, because even though sometimes they work separately (e.g., in capturing the Vienesse hairstyles of Marie-Antoinette with Marie’s pale cheeks), most of the time, the Art is in managing to contrast the two.… Or maybe I just say this because I actually brush my hair every morning, whereas I don’t really bother with make up. :P

I think that was enough rambling. Now let’s see my rankings:

01. Pan’s LabyrinthA teensy bit of this is going to be bias, I grant you. Pan’s Labyrinth is my favourite film of 2006, so naturally, I’m going to think it’s perfect in every way. But the make up was really well done, from the way the fantasy characters were painted, but really, and more pertinently, the make-upping of the people was as wonderfully done and gruesome. The alcohol bleeding into the stitching – eww – one of the most ghastly images of the year. Grade for the make up: A.

02. ApocalyptoApocalypto was a film where I was able to give up on the plot, and follow the technical categories – art direction, make up, cinematography, etc. And although I can’t claim to be an expert on the Mayan kingdom, I was still totally convinced by the technical work on the make up; the wounds and maulings looked very realistic and grim. There was a huge crew involved in the make upping of this film, from Hair and Makeup designer, Vittorio Sodano: Makeup designer, Rossella Gregorio: Makeup supervisor, Caterina Sisto: prosthetic Makeup supervisor, Maurizio Nardi:on set Makeup supervisor, and for the large epic scale of the work, I feel that it is probably going to walk away with this award. Grade for the make up: A-.

03. ClickHeehee. Very entertaining film, though I’m sure most non-Sandler fans would probably disagree. But now that I come to think of it, doing to the old and young Adams were both great, and pretty much made up for the CGI, which wasn’t too impressive. Hate the movie all you look, but you can’t deny that the make up was pretty fun and well done. Grade for the make up: B+.

Monday, January 29, 2007

Okay, so, for fun, I’ve decided to individually look at each Oscar category, and seeing as quite a few of the Oscar nominated films are still yet to come out in the UK, I’ll examine them as soon as I’ve seen all the films in each category. And I shall start with Best Animated Film.

Here are the nominees:

CarsHappy FeetMonster House

How I did: 67% - I correctly predicted Cars and Happy Feet, but I tricked myself into believing that Flushed Away would get in.

So now I shall talk about it.

I’m pretty pleased with this category, though I’m generally pretty pleased with animated films. About 60% of the animated films I see make me feel all warm and fuzzy, which sadly cannot be said for cinema overall. And I really liked all three of these films. Rankings.

01. CarsI saw this in the Summer holidays with a couple of my 8-year-old brother, and I had just as much fun as he. Visually, it’s only behind Finding Nemo in terms of Pixar – the red-sunset filled hues of the American backdrop, the careful attention to detail in livening the cars, etc. There are a wide range of fun and colourful characters, which redeem the slightly annoying main character of Owen Wilson. The usage of the ever classic tune Route 66 is genius, and Randy Newman’s cute, winsome score plays winningly throughout. My only slight foible with the movie was its script, which I must admit must be Pixar’s worst. Some of the jokes were regurgitations from ones from other Pixar films, and the dialogue was a little rusty. But children don’t notice that, and when I was watching this movie, I felt like some of my childhood had indeed been restored. A-.

02. Monster HouseHeehee, now here’s the film that a teacher at my brother’s school wouldn’t allow the kids to watch because she thought it was “too scary for young children.” Well, parts of it even scared me, and I thought it was really pushing it for as PG so there you go. The animation here isn’t as good as that in Cars, but suits the film well, and the fun mixture of horror and adventure works a treat, even if most kids are likely to be disturbed a bit by it. B+.

03. Happy FeetPenguins are indeed cute creatures. I really loved the usage of music in this film, and, I liked some of the penguins. Certainly one of the better Christmas films that came out last year, and the message of how it’s OK to be different was lovely. But still, a little over ambitious for an animated film, to be honest. B.

Who will win: Cars.Who deserves to win: Cars.Who deserved to be nominated: Flushed Away.

Friday, January 26, 2007

Him? (I've chosen this picture because he just wasn't that hot in Blood Diamond, despite being excellent.)

Maybe him? (Happy 44th, by the way!!!)

More likely...

Eww. Education is such an idiot sometimes.

Random thought, by the way: Brokeback Mountain was my choice for Best Film of 2005, by far. My choice for Best of 2006, Pan's Labyrinth, has the child actress Ivana Baquero. Baquero sounds identical to the Spanish word Vaquero. Which means cowboy.

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Okay, I shall predict them. Note, these are my predictions and not my personal choices, which would be a whole lot different. However, in some cases, my personal HOPES may have clouded my ability to predict properly. Read ahead and see.

Best Picture- Babel- The Departed- Dreamgirls- Letters from Iwo Jima- The Queen

There are four nominees that I’m pretty much certain about – Babel, The Departed, Dreamgirls and The Queen, and one that I’m not so sure about – Letters of Iwo Jima. It’s main opposition for that much-coveted fifth spot is, of course, the overrated turd of the year, Little Miss Sunshine, which has done better than it overall in Critic’s Circles (God knows why.) But the Oscars adore the ground that Clint walks on, so I doubt they’ll ignore Letters. Another alternative would have been the laughably bad United 93, but, thankfully, that hasn’t actually done too well with SAGs, Golden Globes, etc, so, haha.

Um. As I write this, I’ve just discovered that Little Miss Sunshine won the PGA. Huh. Maybe I’m getting a little delusional.

Best Actor- Leonardo DiCaprio, The Blood Diamond- Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson- Peter O'Toole, Venus- Will Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness- Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland

I’m still not sure about this category. I saw Will Smith’s performance at the weekend, and though I considered it good, I didn’t find his best work, and I don’t think the Oscars will either. But, still. It hasn’t altogether been that strong a year for lead actors (save DiCaprio in The Departed, who was absolutely amazing), and the likely winner Forest Whitaker gave a good-but-extremely-hammy performance, which is such a shame, because I considered James McAvoy much better, and it looks like he’s going to go totally ignored.

A while back, I wrote about how I didn’t think that Streep would get nominated for Best Actress, because she just wasn’t good enough. Well, I now retract that, because I seem to be the only one who seems to think that she wasn’t good enough. If her Golden Globe win for Best Actress wasn’t enough to convince me this, then the various nominations – in BAFTA, SAG, etc, certainly seem to have done the trick.

Out of all the Oscar categories, this is the one I have the most affinity with: 2 out of my choices match those of Oscars – Cruz and Mirren, who were both sublime. I’m yet to see Notes on a Scandal, but will be there as soon as it gets released in the UK, because, having read the novel, I am now beyond excited to see how it gets transferred to screen. Meryl Streep wasn’t brilliant by her own extraordinarily high standards, but it was a good performance nonetheless, and Winslet gave a moderately good performance, I suppose.

The idiocracy of pushing Leo in The Departed for support fully shows through here. In a perfect world, he should win this category hands down (though I’m yet to see Dreamgirls), but we’re not in a perfect world, so there. My oddest choice in predicting here would probably be to miss out Jackie Earle Haley in Little Children and Jack Nicholson in The Departed, yet include Mark Wahlberg for the same film. Well, although Haley has received his share of critic’s awards, at the end of the day, I just think that his portrayal of the disturbed paedophile will freak out Oscar voters too much. And also, I just didn’t think Nicholson was good, whereas Marky Mark was. I’m kinda hoping that Oscars are with me on that.

Well, here’s the thing. Abigail Breslin is young. Oscars naturally have a wariness towards young performances (though I’m still scratching my head at how Castle-Hughes could have gotten her nomination for her beyond mediocre performance in Whale Rider). But still. If Ivana Baquero, giver of best performance in a 2006 film can’t make it and the fantastic young cast of Offside aren’t getting nominated, then I simply refuse to believe that the Oscars will nominate Abigail “Cutesy” Breslin, for her lol-inducing performance in one of the worst films of the year. It would, obviously, make so much more sense to actually nominate the best female supporting performance of the year, the sublime Emily Blunt giving her best performance in a film that was about a trillion times more enjoyable – and intelligent – than Little Miss Sunshine.

I don’t like the idea of the five directors mirroring the five films exactly, but it did happen last year, so why not again? The only likely candidate to stop this perfect mirroring is the director of United 93, whose name I can’t be bothered to remember, because his film was just so bad.

Again, United 93 could make it here, instead of Pan’s Labyrinth, most likely, but something tells me that the Oscars value originality and creativity higher than pretension. But that’s just my guess.

Best Adapted Screenplay- The Departed- The Devil Wears Prada- Dreamgirls- Letters from Iwo Jima- Notes on a Scandal

The Devil Wears Prada will get in, I tell ya! That film was actually pretty witty.

Best Cinematography- Apocalypto- Children of Men- Flags of Our Fathers- Letters from Iwo Jima- Pan's Labyrinth

Best Editing- Babel- The Departed- Dreamgirls- Flags of Our Fathers- The Queen

Okay, Editing is actually a more important category than people value it is, as, last year, one of Brokeback’s 8 nominations were not in Editing, and I think a film without a nomination in Best Editing hadn’t won Best Film since 1980. Well, yeah.

Best Art Direction- Children of Men- Dreamgirls- Letters from Iwo Jima- The Painted Veil- Pan's Labyrinth

Best Costume Design- The Devil Wears Prada- Dreamgirls- Marie-Antoinette- The Prestige- The Queen

Some people had originally touted double nods for both Philip Glass AND Alexandre Desplat, with the latter also getting nominated for his work on The Queen, but I don’t think that’ll be the cast, as, though the score to The Queen was good, it was actually nothing special by Desplat’s standards. So the scores here are pretty much stand-alones, with only Babel as a Best Picture nominee. I do hope that The Da Vinci Code gets nominated for Score, as, though the film wasn’t fantastic (but I enjoyed it), the score was absolutely haunting and beautiful.

My biggest foible about this category is that Clint Mansell’s eerie, fantastic score to The Fountain won’t make it. Though I’m yet to see the film, one of my friends got me the OST, and I’ve listened to it at least once a day from then to now. That’s how fantastic it is.

Friday, January 12, 2007

First, let me just have a little rant. HOW THE FRICK DID BRESLIN GET IN THERE AND IVANA GET OVERLOOKED?!!! Daniel Craig for Actor? Disgusting!!!! HOW DARE YOU NOMINATED 93 for DIRECTION????@ LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE SUX!!!

Anyway, here are the damned nominations, with my reactions and predictions in white.

Casino Royale was one of the worst written films of 2006. I mean, Paul "Crash" Haggis wrote a third of it! Ugh. Anyway, nice to see Marber and McKenna getting into there, and Peter Morgan's proving that 2006 was quite his year, with nods in Adapted and Original. That is good.

The Da Vinci Code, Volver, Marie-Antoinette (seeing as BAFTA look at overall music and not just score), The Fountain and Perfume should all be here instead of these five. I mean, I love Desplat, but his score to The Queen was truly nothing special by his standards.

Thursday, January 11, 2007

I am so, so, SO excited about this. As you may know, as a Brit, I feel a great affinity and attachment to the BAFTAs; I basically adore them. And they shouldn’t let me down this year. So here are my predictions:

So, after much consideration (and consoling myself), I realise that even BAFTA, for all their genius, aren’t likely to nominate Baquero. Although they’re not strangers to awarding foreign performances, I think the factor working against Baquero here is her age. BAFTA aren’t too keen to nominate child performances, however brilliant (Haley for The Sixth Sense also missed the cut), and therefore, the Best Actress from BAFTA this year will be suspiciously similar to that of Oscars.

Best ActorCillian Murphy - The Wind That Shakes the BarleyForest Whitaker - The Last King of ScotlandLeonardo DiCaprio - Blood DiamondLeonardo DiCaprio - The DepartedPeter O'Toole - Venus

I thought about having Clive Owen’s performance in there (BAFTA love him, they gave him the win for Closer in ’05), but alas, I think he’ll provide the opportunity cost for fellow Brit Cillian Murphy getting in there for his brilliant, intense performance in the otherwise dull The Wind that Shakes the Barley. Also, I considered Smith, but The Pursuit of Happyness wasn’t received too well by critics over here. And yes, Leo for the Double. Because I say so.

Three Brits, and two acclaimed performance. I think that seems about right. And the McAvoy pick might be slight wishful thinking on my part, but, then again, he DID win the Rising Star Award last year, so the BAFTAs like the cute man.

Goooooooooooooooooooooooooooo Emily!! The two performances in Babel have been extremely acclaimed, and Babel’s been received OK over hee. I’m not sure about Hudson, I have her in there for the overall acclaim factor, though even if she doesn’t get the BAFTA nom, she’ll still be frontrunner.

This would be the perfect lineup; whether or not BAFTA oblige, is up to them.

Best FilmBabelThe DepartedNotes On A ScandalPan's LabyrinthThe Queen

I’d really like to think that BAFTA, unlike the various brainless awards, can see Little Miss Sunshine and United 93 for what they are: turds. The Pan’s Labyrinth prediction is VERY hopeful from me, but… but… you know…

Best DirectorBabelChildren Of MenThe DepartedPan's LabyrinthThe Queen

There’s always a lone director; Cuaron’s work was highly acclaimed over here.

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

01. Leonardo DiCaprio in The Departed02. James McAvoy in The Last King of Scotland03. Samuel Barnett in The History Boys04. Ben Wishaw in Perfume: The Story Of A Murderer05. James McAvoy in Starter for 10

And you?

Deary me, I've had a tiring day. Chelsea drew at Wycombe; fair enough. Aside from that, my eyes ache from revising, but the Perfume: The Story Of A Murderer OST is aboslutely orgasmic. I'll try and upload some of the tracks from there for your listening pleasure.

Monday, January 08, 2007

So, I didn't actually give my precise comments on all of the SAG and PGA noms. Here they are, with predictions in red.

PGABabel NSThe DepartedGood film, but not one of the top 5 of the year.Dreamgirls NS, not sure I dare to.Little Miss Sunshine This film is really beginning to Zummer me off. It's actually in my bottom 10 of the year, and Breslin's performance is the most annoying in a 2006 film.The QueenGood film.

SAG Best ActressPenelope Cruz, Volver Beautiful performance.Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal NS, but I really can't wait now.Helen Mirren, The QueenHow did I just know this was going to be here?Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada Ugh. Love Meryl, liked the performance, hate the overration.Kate Winslet, Little Children Good, B- performance.

Best Actor Leonardo DiCaprio, Blood Diamond Yay! (even though I haven't seen the movie, it's Leo!)Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson NSPeter O'Toole, Venus Predictable.Will Smith, Pursuit of Happyness I saw the advert to this movie, thought it looked cute.Forest Whitaker, The Last King of ScotlandGood performance, but James was much better.

Best Supporting ActorAlan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine No. Bad.Leonardo DiCaprio, The DepartedExcellent, but LEAD!!!! Anyway, yeah, I have him predicted for the win, because, you know...Jackie Earle Haley, Little Children Decent enough.Djimon Honsou, Blood Diamond Want to see this.Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls Um.(btw, I am absolutely delighted that Nicholson didn't make it, I really hated his performance.)

EnsembleBabel NSBobby NSThe Departed NicDreamgirls Meh.Little Miss SunshineNope. Only Collette gave a good performance in this film.It will probably win as well. yuck.

Sunday, January 07, 2007

This post is in participation with the Supporting Actress blogathon that is going on at StinkyLulu’s blog. Check out and join in with the fun! :0)

My pick for the Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a 2006 is Emily Blunt as the bitchy Emily in The Devil Wears Prada. Emily Blunt’s been an actress I’ve been noticing for a while now, from her breakout turn as wealthy towngirl Tamsin in Pawel Pawlikowski’s My Summer of Love, as well as her several TV appearances over the years. But her fantastic work in this film, where she manages to steal the show from Streep’s good-but-slightly-overhyped performance, trumps anything I’ve seen from her.

She plays Miranda Priestley’s fashion-savvy first assistant, who lives for her clothes. Her portrayal is spot-on and the blunt one-liners from Emily (ugh, crap pun alert) offers a good variation with Hathaway’s more wide-eyed, naïf. You can tell that Emily had enjoyed doing this movie, because in her performance she just totally lets her hair down and has fun, and in doing so is comedic heaven. I do love it when you can see an actor having fun with their role.

But, amazingly, she is able to bring a level of depth to the caricaturish character of Emily, by varying vitriol and desperation. She veers from Priestley-esque cattiness to genuine desperation in the short space of a few scenes, meaning that whilst we don’t adore Emily as a character, the film is simply lacking in magic when she’s not on screen.

Saturday, January 06, 2007

“Unputdownable” has become a bit of a cliché nowadays, but this book truly was it. After watching Ugly Betty last night (good show, America Ferreira was a delight), I got started on it, and couldn’t go to sleep until I’d finished it.

Zoë Heller’s novel tells the story of Sheba, a pottery teacher who is found out to have had an illicit affair with a 15-year-old boy, and the repercussions of her actions, as well as how it all came about. It is told from the point of view of Barbara, a History teacher working at the school at the time, who, from the start, saw Sheba as a kindred spirit.

The book is simply wonderful. Heller writes superbly, with an ironic, amusing tone, that touches upon many of the mundane events of school life, satirising practically everyone, from the “upright prig” who wears panty liners everyday of the month (women, you’re likely to get this bit more than men), to the head teacher who tries hard to get everyone to love him when he’s the most pedantic one. The description of Steven [the underage boy] and Sheba’s relationship is tense, believable and Barbara being the narrator, we also get the analytical, non-subjective side of things. Furthermore, Heller is very apt in how she captures the fickleness of young love.

The last act of the book surprised me too, but it would be giving too much away if I said anything. Suffice to say, the plot turns so that it is no longer just about Sheba, but also about Barbara, her loneliness, and a very unorthodox friendship.

Basically, I cannot wait for the film to come out now. Notes on a Scandal is the best book I’ve read of 2007 (though, admittedly, I’ve only read 2 others), and I can seriously picture Judi Dench playing Barbara with the calculated scariness that I read of. Should be good.

Other Crap- This week, whilst walking to school, I tripped up and grazed my right knee. It really hurts.- I'm going to a friend's birthday party tonight, and we shall be watching a movie & eating pizza. I just felt like telling you. ;P- I'm really scared about the idea of Little Miss Sunshine getting nominated for Best Film. Damnit, it just isn't that good! Why did it get a PGA and an SAG ensemble nod, then? Ugh, I hate that movie so much!!- However, I am relieved that United 93 is getting award season shutout. haha!

Best Film - Top 15:BabelBobbyCasino RoyaleChildren Of MenThe DepartedThe Devil Wears PradaFlags Of Our FathersThe History BoysThe Last King Of ScotlandLittle Miss SunshineNotes On A ScandalPan's LabyrinthThe QueenUnited 93Volver

Best Director - Top 15:ApocalyptoBabelBobbyCasino RoyaleChildren Of MenThe DepartedFlags Of Our FathersThe History BoysThe Last King Of ScotlandLittle Miss SunshineNotes On A ScandalPan's LabyrinthThe QueenUnited 93Volver

Comments/ReactionsYAY for Ivana Baquero & Emily Blunt! Yay! And some love for The History Boys, even if Stephen Campbell Moore and Samuell Barnett were snubbed. Nice to see Leo got in, but disappointed for Jennifer Ehle, especially seeing as the twatty Abigail Breslin made the final 15 and she didn't Ugh. Nice to see Eva Green in there, even if she was supporting. And not that much love for Ewwnited93, which is nice. But Daniel Craig? Eww!

Predictions

Best ActressHelen Mirren - The QueenIvana Baquero - Pan's LabyrinthJudi Dench - Notes on a ScandalKate Winslet - Little ChildrenPenelope Cruz - Volver(I know, wishful thinking alert for Ivana. But she was just so amazing! She has to get nominated, or BAFTA will get Zummered.)

Best ActorForest Whitaker - The Last King of ScotlandLeonardo DiCaprio - Blood DiamondLeonardo DiCaprio - The DepartedPeter O'Toole - VenusWill Smith - The Pursuit of Happyness(BAFTA love their Double nominations, Leo to get in there. BAFTA are yet to nominate Will, so this could be his year.)